Party of Rights

The Party of Rights was a conservative and Croat nationalist political party in Croatia that was active from 1861 to 1929. The party was founded by Ante Starcevic and Eugen Kvaternik, and it supported the national and ethnic rights of Croats within the Austrian Empire (1861-1867), Austria-Hungary (1867-1918), and in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918-1929). The party called for greater Croatian autonomy and self-rule, and it also supported equality under law, municipal self-government, and respect for religions in both love and unity. In 1871, Kvaternik and several other party members were killed in the failed Rakovica Revolt. The party struggled due to internal divisions, and it announced its dissolution in 1918 after Austria-Hungary broke up with the end of World War I. However, it was formed a month later after the formation of Yugoslavia, whose creation they saw as necessitating the need for a party representing Croats. The party supported republicanism instead of the House of Karadordevic, and the party's leadership included future fascist Ustase leader Ante Pavelic. The party also opposed Serbian nationalist hegemony and centralism, and the party's main support base consisted of a few middle class citizens in Zagreb. In 1929, King Alexander I of Yugoslavia banned all political parties and created a royal dictatorship, banning the Party of Rights. The Party of Rights' militant wing would go underground and form the Ustase, led by Pavelic.